Cogerson’s
review published on
Letterboxd:

This is one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies....I have seen this movie many many times....the first time was a shocking 25 years ago in theaters (I helped it open #1 at the box office). In this one Tom Hanks plays an overstressed suburbanite, who along with his neighbors becomes obsessed with their new neighbors. Yes this movie is silly...but it is a fun movie to watch and is packed with many many in-jokes.

Ten things you might not know about the movie. 1. The script was written and co-produced by Dana Olsen. Olsen appears at the end of the movie as a cop. I first noticed Dana Olsen in the Judd Nelson comedy Making the Grade....but Olsen has not done much since The Burbs. 2. This was the second time Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher appeared in a movie. 3. Rick Ducommun cuts the power off to the neighborhood in The Burbs....the year before he was the person that cut the power off to the Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard. 4. In one of the breakfast scenes you can see a box of Gremlins cereal....Gremlins was directed by Joe Dante...who also directed this one. 5. In Gale Gordon's house.....there are many pictures of Gale and Lucille Ball....Gale starred with Ball for years on her tv shows. This was his last movie. 6. One of the detectives at the end of the movie talking to Hanks was Rance Howard. Rance is the father of Ron and Clint Howard. Ron Howard and Hanks have made many great movies together. Speaking of Clint Howard....seems he would have been perfect as a member of Klopek family. 7. In the Klopek basement there is a sled with the name Rosebud on it.....a Citizen Kane reference of course. 8. At no point in the movie does the movie leave the cul-de-sac in which the characters live. This set was also used in Hanks' Dragnet movie. 9. Hanks is seen reading a book about demonology by Julian Karswell. Karswell is the villain in the 1957 film Curse of the Demon. That movie is one of the Danny Peary Cult Movies....I had never noticed that before. 10. Some of the movies referenced in this one....The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Patton, Curse of the Demon, Gremlins, Citizen Kane, The Exorcist, Race With The Devil and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.